DatesFromString

Flexible solution for finding dates in text. After parsing text, gem return flexible structure of dates, that allow get date by you own logic use distance for next date type and key words between dates.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'dates_from_string'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install dates_from_string

Usage

text = "1988-1990 and 2000 and one more date 04.04.2015"        # parsing text
key_words = ['between','-']                                     # you can define special separator
date_format = {date_format: :usa}                               # year,day,month by default year,month,day
dates_from_string = DatesFromString.new(key_words,date_format)  # define DatesFromString object
dates_from_string.get_structure(text)                           # parsing text

#=> returns
#  [{:type=>:year, :value=>"1988", :distance=>0, :key_words=>["-"]},
#  {:type=>:year, :value=>"1990", :distance=>2, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:year, :value=>"2000", :distance=>5, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:year, :value=>"2015", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:day, :value=>"04", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:month, :value=>"04", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]}]

:type       # type of date year, month or day
:value      # value of date
:distance   # distance for next date type
:key_words  # special words, symbols that separate dates

# find date in structure
text = "забрать машину из ремонта 2015-02-02 23:00:10"
dates_from_string = DatesFromString.new
dates_from_string.find_date(text)

#=> return
#  ["2015-02-02 23:00:10"]

Examples:

input = '1988 between 1990'
key_words = ['between']
dates_from_string = DatesFromString.new(key_words)
dates_from_string.get_structure(input)

#=> return
#  [{:type=>:year, :value=>"1988", :distance=>2, :key_words=>["between"]},
#  {:type=>:year, :value=>"1990", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]}]

input = '2013/07/09 one date and he born in 1990'
dates_from_string.get_structure(input)

#=> return
#  [{:type=>:year, :value=>"2013", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:month, :value=>"07", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:day, :value=>"09", :distance=>7, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:year, :value=>"1990", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]}]

input = '1990 1988 year 2013 bla bla bla 2015 a b c d i f g qwe 2016'
dates_from_string.get_structure(input)

#=> return
#  [{:type=>:year, :value=>"1990", :distance=>1, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:year, :value=>"1988", :distance=>2, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:year, :value=>"2013", :distance=>4, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:year, :value=>"2015", :distance=>9, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:year, :value=>"2016", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]}]

input = 'August 1961'
dates_from_string.get_structure(input)

#=> return
#  [{:type=>:month, :value=>"08", :distance=>1, :key_words=>[]},
#  {:type=>:year, :value=>"1961", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]}]

input = '10 April 1948'
dates_from_string.get_structure(input)

#=> return
# [{:type=>:day, :value=>"10", :distance=>1, :key_words=>[]},
# {:type=>:month, :value=>"04", :distance=>1, :key_words=>[]},
# {:type=>:year, :value=>"1948", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]}]
#

input = 'circa 1960 and full date 07 Jun 1941'
dates_from_string.get_structure(input)

#=> return
# [{:type=>:year, :value=>"1960", :distance=>4, :key_words=>[]},
# {:type=>:day, :value=>"07", :distance=>1, :key_words=>[]},
# {:type=>:month, :value=>"06", :distance=>1, :key_words=>[]},
# {:type=>:year, :value=>"1941", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]}]

obj = DatesFromString.new(['and'])
input = 'between 1960 and 1965'
obj.get_structure(input)

#=> return
# [{:type=>:year, :value=>"1960", :distance=>2, :key_words=>['and']},
# {:type=>:year, :value=>"1965", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]},]

input = "In September 2011, following a change in the law extending
         the presidential term from four years to six,[5] Putin announced
         that he would seek a third, non-consecutive term as President in
         the 2012 presidential election, an announcement which led to
         large-scale protests in many Russian cities. In March 2012 he won the election,
         which was criticized for procedural irregularities, and is serving a six-year term"
dates_from_string.get_structure(input)

#=> return
# [{:type=>:month, :value=>"09", :distance=>1, :key_words=>[]},
# {:type=>:year, :value=>"2011", :distance=>30, :key_words=>[]},
# {:type=>:year, :value=>"2012", :distance=>15, :key_words=>[]},
# {:type=>:month, :value=>"03", :distance=>1, :key_words=>[]},
# {:type=>:year, :value=>"2012", :distance=>0, :key_words=>[]}]

Development

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install. To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release to create a git tag for the version, push git commits and tags, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.

Contributing

1. Fork it ( https://github.com/[my-github-username]/dates_from_string/fork )
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
5. Create a new Pull Request